“I don’t want your apology,” I snap.
“We understand,” Hamilton says calmly, setting a hand on my forearm and squeezing so I shut the fuck up. “We just want the footage you promised and we’ll be on our way.”
I almost snort out a laugh. I swear he missed his calling as a lawyer. He and Damian insisted in coming along and I didn’t have the energy to tell them to fuck off. Josslyn was sent home from the hospital late last night, and our apartment currently looks like a birthday celebration with the amount of people, balloons, and flowers. It took more willpower than I knew I had to not kick them all out.
After an eternity, Leo slides his phone across the table. I pick it up and press play. Hamilton and Dame lean closer to watch. Thevideo starts out with the three of them—Josslyn, Olivia, and my sister—walking into Onyx. Seeing my sister makes my skin crawl. The quality of this video is better than the one I have, and I’m able to pay close attention to the expression on their faces. Josslyn looks concerned. Olivia looks like she doesn’t want to be there. My sister looks strange, with huge pupils and an expression that borders on deranged. My stomach twists. Beside me, Damian mutters a quiet curse and Hamilton shifts closer.
In this video, I see Josslyn and Olivia walk toward the bar, and my sister takes a right. The next shot is of her walking into that room I saw her disappear into in the footage I have. She smiles and waves at someone off camera. She walks into the room, and shortly after, a man wearing a mask walks inside as well. The video skips to him walking out, and I know from having watched the footage of the rest of the club that Josslyn is outside with Titus and Olivia is gone.
The timestamp up top skips to three hours later, when the door opens again, and my sister walks out. My heart pounds hard and loud in my ears as I watch her walk toward the bar, give something to the same man with the mask that had been inside the room with her. He takes a small envelope from her hand and starts arguing with her, but Mallory shrugs and glances into the bar. My stomach turns.
Thirty minutes pass and people start leaving the club. I hadn’t noticed when I watched the footage before, but there weren’t many people there that night.
“Is it usually that dead on a Saturday night?” I ask, keeping my eyes on the phone screen.
“No. It closed early that night. Everyone who made a reservation had to be out by midnight.”
“Is that normal?” Damian asks.
“No.”
I press pause on the video and glance up, waiting for him to explain himself.
“Mallory rented out Onyx quite a few times,” Leo says. “Normally, when people do that, we keep a record of it. That night, there is no record. I found the guest list that I showed Josslyn, but no record of anyone renting the entire club.”
My jaw clenches and I press play again. A man walks inside with a body bag hanging over his shoulder and steps into the room Mallory vacated. At first, I figure she’s inside there, but the video cuts to the empty bar, where Josslyn is sitting with her head down on the bar as if she’s taking a nap.
“Fuck,” I whisper, my stomach curling. I don’t know if I can watch this.
“I can watch it for you,” Hamilton suggests, but I shake my head.
Mallory walks into the bar and heads straight to Josslyn. I watch as she pushes her hair away from her face gently and brings her face closer. I stop breathing.
“Finn, I’m serious. I can watch it,” Hamilton says, his voice a little wary.
Mallory backs away suddenly and looks toward the door. She looks at Josslyn one more time before she starts walking in that direction. The next frame cuts to my sister walking out of the room she’d been in with both hands over her mouth. She crouches and lands on her knees as if in fathomless pain.
How she went through with all of this is beyond me. My sister could barely get a scratch without crying like she was dying, so for her to have her teeth knocked out … it just makes all of this more sick and twisted. The last thing shown is John carrying Josslyn out of Onyx with Mallory beside them. They both stop walking and glance to the left at the same time, and then start walking faster until they disappear from the frame. I set the phone down and stare at the blank screen.
“You took Joss to the hospital the day after this?” I ask Damian, my flat voice reflecting the numbness I feel inside.
“Yeah, they said she hadn’t been…” he says, letting his words trail off.
“Jesus,” Hamilton says on an exhale.
“You understand why I didn’t want to send this to Josslyn,” Leo says across from us as he takes back his phone.
“She doesn’t need to see that,” I respond.
The unknown would be too much for her. It’s enough to haunt me for the rest of my days, especially after my sister insinuated she did something to her while she was unconscious.
“Do you have enough to prove what John did without this video?” Damian asks Leo.
“I believe so.”
“Whatever happens, his life is over,” I say with conviction.
He’s either going to jail or he’s going to die. I don’t care what his reasons were for being involved in the fire. I don’t care if my sister paid him a shitload of money or bribed him or whatever the fuck happened.
